Darlene Cavalier
Professor
Arizona State University and Scistarter.org
Anne Kathrine Overgaard
Head of Research and Innovation Support, Faculty of Health Science
University of Southern Denmark
Thomas Kaarsted
Deputy Library Director
University Library of Southern Denmark and Director, Citizen Science Knowledge Center
Citizen science has emerged as a bridge between universities and society with the potential of empowering citizens, producing co-created knowledge, and solving global wicked problems. At the same time citizen science has spread from natural science to all areas of research. Public libraries are along for the ride but so far research libraries in the United States have not embraced the potential.
Based on experiences from Scistarter.org and the University of Southern Denmark, as well as research from within European research libraries, the session outlines the possibilities of research libraries as the key link to building support services and laying the groundwork for societal impact.
Scisctarter.org has been a long-time hub for citizen science with free and open digital tools available to libraries. In Europe, research libraries are establishing hubs or support services and seem uniquely equipped to run these services. The Citizen Science Knowledge Center, based in the library at the University of Southern Denmark, has run more than 35 projects as the mediator between researchers and the public.
